Episode 23: Mr. Savage Goes To Harvard

On this week's podcast, we travel back in time to February 17th
1998. On this momentous date, Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage of the nWo
was honored as the Harvard Lampoon’s Real Man of the Year in a
ceremony on campus – the highlights of which aired on the March 5th
edition of WCW Thunder – but Mr. Savage was not alone on this trip.
Rather, he was accompanied by the esteemed feature producer for
World Championship Wrestling, Mr. Neal Pruitt. Neal explains all in
Episode 23!!!

Kline, Savage Honored as Men Of the Year

Savage's Real Man' award pokes fun at Pot

In a ceremony that incorporated such disparate elements as
ninjas, people in gorilla outfits and a mariachi band, the Harvard
Lampoon bestowed upon professional wrestler Randy "The Macho Man"
Savage its annual Real Man of the Year award yesterday
afternoon.

The Lampoon, a semi-secret Bow Street organization that used to
occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, presented the
award to Savage inside a makeshift wrestling ring that had been
erected in front of the steps of its castle.

Savage, who distinguished himself first as a member of the World
Wrestling Federation (WWF) and now in World Championship Wrestling
(WCW), is a former winner of the WWF's Intercontinental Title as
well as the WWF and WCW's respective heavyweight championships.

He is the first wrestler to receive the Lampoon's Real Man of
the Year award.

The ceremony honoring Savage was the culmination of a day's
worth of highly publicized activities by the Lampoon that included
a parade down Mass. Ave. and an introduction by Nobellaureate and
Baird Professor of Chemistry Dudley Herschbach.

The 45-year-old Savage, whose real name is Randy Poffo, arrived
for the event in a silver Dodge Viper, dressed in a black leather
jacket, spandex pants and a t-shirt with the word "MADNESS"
emblazoned on it.

Spectators, both students and Cambridge locals,lined Savage's
parade route as he and members of the Lampoon hurled Slim Jim
snacks at the crowd.

When asked during the parade if he would like to say anything to
his fans, Savage replied, "Snap into a Slim Jim!" -- referring to
the brand of beef jerky sticks the flamboyant wrestler
endorses.

Whether by design or by chance, the Lampoon's event was
scheduled for the same day as a ceremony honoring the Hasty Pudding
Theatrical Society's Man of the Year, Kevin Kline.

Seizing upon this coincidence, Savage challenged Kline to a
wrestling match in the Lampoon's ring, questioned his courage and
insinuated that Kline and Savage's estranged tag-team partner
Hollywood Hulk Hogan were"dating".

Lampoon officers even provided Savage with a telephone, inviting
him to call Kline at the Hasty Pudding to issue his challenge
directly.

In the ensuing dialogue between Savage and a voice that
purported to be Kline, the wrestler called the actor out, saying
"take your beating like a man." Kline, however, did not present
himself.

Later that evening, at a news conference held at the Hasty
Pudding Theatre, Kline initially professed ignorance about Savage's
challenge, but then assented to it, saying, "I'm Man of the
Year.It's sour grapes. I will accept his challenge, but I won't
wrestle him."

In lieu of Kline, the Lampoon staged a tag-team bout that pitted
Savage and Grimace, a McDonalds character, against a group of
costumed spectators culled from the audience. These included a
cowboy,a ninja, the philosopher Socrates, a cadre of Revolutionary
War soldiers and the Grim Reaper.

Without Savage's assistance, Grimace dispatched his adversaries
with seeming ease.

But when the purple-clad mascot turned against his own partner,
Savage felled Grimace with one blow, opting for an arm hack to the
head rather than his signature move, the "flying elbow from the top
of the ropes."

Despite Savage's victory, wrestling fans at ringside agreed that
his appearance at the Lampoon comes at a crossroads in the
middle-aged wrestler's personal and professional life.

"He's not the same as he was at Wrestle mania III back in '86,"
said Savage admirer John E.Connolly '00.

In the past five years, Savage has switched his affiliation from
the WWF to the WCW and been divorced from his wife and current
manager, Lady Elizabeth.

More recently, he alienated himself from his gang, the New World
Order (NWO), as a result of his feud with Hogan.

Responding to a question about a possible schism within the NWO,
Savage said, "Sure, they're all tense and I'm feeling great."

Still, Savage's youngest fans remain his most ardent
admirers.

"As many times as Macho Man gets knocked down he always gets
back up," said seven-year-old Brian Devenne of Cambridge.

The afternoon's proceedings came to a climax when Lampoon
President Matthew J. Murray '99 and Narthex Nicholas A. Stoller '98
handed Savage the silver cup that represents their Real Man of the
Year Award as well as a self improvement cassette Savage identified
as "How to Have Sex Up to One Time a Night."

Savage, apparently touched by the recognition,expressed his
appreciation and said he would use the award as an incentive to
"really get serious and kick ass from now on.

About the Podcast

Former World Championship Wrestling producer Neal Pruitt - perhaps best known to fans as the unforgettable voice of the New World Order - discusses the previously unheard stories behind the production of a variety of classic WCW Nitro moments, including:
Roddy Piper's trip to Alcatraz;
The creation of the nWo logo;
Hollywood Hogan's initial heel 'promos'...
And much more!
This podcast focuses on the magic created behind the camera during an iconic period in professional wrestling. In an unprecedented level of detail, Neal takes fans into the production truck and reveals the technical wizardry that helped create some of the most memorable segments in WCW history.
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